UHAC National leaders recently met with U.S. House Representative Shelley Berkley (D-NV) at a very successful breakfast fundraiser where the Congresswoman reminisced about the Greek ancestry of her family and expressed support for issues important to the Hellenic community in the US.

Andrew A. Athens, President of World SAE and Chairman of UHAC National, praised Cong. Berkley for her record in the House of Representatives and in the community and welcomed the participants who included James A. Regas, President of UHAC National; John Marks, President of the Hellenic Museum and Cultural Center; Dean Maragos candidate for Commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District; Nick Melas, former President of the district; Marilyn Tzakis and Endy Zemenides.

Berkley, one of two Greek Americans in the US House of Representatives, spoke of her grandmother who emigrated from Greece, and related how the Congresswoman brought to her grandmother soil from the old Jewish neighborhood in Thessaloniki whose Jewish community hails back to Biblical times.  Berkley represents the 1st Congressional District which includes Las Vegas, and which boasts a sizable Hellenic American community. She serves on the House International Relations Committee and the Armed Services Committee. These committees deal directly with the defense and diplomatic relationships of the US with Greece, Cyprus and Turkey.
 
Cong. Berkley is one of the stronger supporters of Hellenic-American issues in Congress. In 2003 Cong. Berkley also led a delegation of US Representatives to Greece, including others from the International Relations Committee, who met with top government officials and business leaders. During this trip, she spoke at the rededication of the Holocaust Memorial in Thessaloniki, which was attended by His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and many Greek elected officials.
 
Berkley is a member of the Hellenic Caucus and participates each year in the annual Cyprus Conference in Washington, DC. She has co-sponsored many House Resolutions concerning Greek and Cypriot issues, including removal of Turkish troops from Cyprus, opposing Turkey s claims over islands in the Aegean, supporting renewal of efforts for a Cyprus settlement, return of the Parthenon Marbles and others. She is also supporting a Greek American candidate for governor of Nevada, Dina Titus.
 
UHAC National is a non-partisan organization that supports candidates from either party who are supportive of issues important to Hellenes in the U.S. In June, UHAC National hosted a reception fundraiser for US Representative Mark Kirk (R-IL.), a philhellene who also sits on the Armed Services Committee.